Reckon there not nearly as bad as they are made out. What we need to bare in mind is that their job (certainly for ODI's/T20's) is as much about entertainment as it is for informative cricket knowledge - on a commercial network, they don't have the luxury that they do on a Fox Sports / ABC radio where they can just focus on the cricket and discussing it in depth. On a commercial netwrok, there is as much a responsibility to be entertaining as there is to call the match.

Think you'll find the commentary is much more focused during the Tests, which is for the die hard fans rather than an attempt to draw in the masses.

PS: The worst commentator going around is Sanjay Manjrekar by a street. Arun Lal, Ranjit Fernando and Mike Haysmann all suck too. No one quite at that level on the 9 team (although occassionally Healy gives it a nudge).

PS: The worst commentator going around is Sanjay Manjrekar by a street. Arun Lal, Ranjit Fernando and Mike Haysmann all suck too. No one quite at that level on the 9 team (although occassionally Healy gives it a nudge).

Agree about Sanjay. No doubt he's smarter than half the other Indian commentators, but the dude doesn't shut up! Just loves the sound of his own voice and thinks he's Mr Insightful. He just really grates on me, and it doesn't take long...

Reckon there not nearly as bad as they are made out. What we need to bare in mind is that their job (certainly for ODI's/T20's) is as much about entertainment as it is for informative cricket knowledge - on a commercial network, they don't have the luxury that they do on a Fox Sports / ABC radio where they can just focus on the cricket and discussing it in depth. On a commercial netwrok, there is as much a responsibility to be entertaining as there is to call the match.

Think you'll find the commentary is much more focused during the Tests, which is for the die hard fans rather than an attempt to draw in the masses.

PS: The worst commentator going around is Sanjay Manjrekar by a street. Arun Lal, Ranjit Fernando and Mike Haysmann all suck too. No one quite at that level on the 9 team (although occassionally Healy gives it a nudge).

Channel 9 are just cheerleaders these days!!! It is like having to hear Gavaskar on Tendulkar all day!!!

We miss you, Fardin. :(. RIP.

Originally Posted by vic_orthdox

In the end, I think it's so utterly, incomprehensibly boring. There is so much context behind each innings of cricket that dissecting statistics into these small samples is just worthless. No-one has ever been faced with the same situation in which they come out to bat as someone else. Ever.

I agree with the earlier comments that Taylor is a much more insightful and intelligent cricket commentator than he comes across. A lot of these commentators, even Healy, get better when they're doing the analysis/insight before/after play started. It's just the ball-to-ball that they struggle with.

Commentators in other countries always seem to have their finger on the pulse, our guys have no idea whats happening outside of our summer, been going on for years and years this garbage.

Gotta say, Ian Chappell is the man for me, great commentator. The rest are hopeless. Love Nasser and Athers too on Sky.

I used to love Geoffrey Boycott as a commentator. I don't know about others but he could really lay into the players too.

Originally Posted by Andre

Reckon there not nearly as bad as they are made out. What we need to bare in mind is that their job (certainly for ODI's/T20's) is as much about entertainment as it is for informative cricket knowledge - on a commercial network, they don't have the luxury that they do on a Fox Sports / ABC radio where they can just focus on the cricket and discussing it in depth. On a commercial netwrok, there is as much a responsibility to be entertaining as there is to call the match.

Think you'll find the commentary is much more focused during the Tests, which is for the die hard fans rather than an attempt to draw in the masses.

PS: The worst commentator going around is Sanjay Manjrekar by a street. Arun Lal, Ranjit Fernando and Mike Haysmann all suck too. No one quite at that level on the 9 team (although occassionally Healy gives it a nudge).

I agree. Well said. And the distance between Arun Lal and Sanjay Manjrekar is not that great.

Thankfully somebody mentioned Mike Haysmann. He has got to be the worst commentator going around. And you have got to hear him when he tries to sound excited when a boundary or a 6 goes around. Hardly seems to be any difference between his normal and excited state except the voice only gets louder. I am always hoping that he doesn't appear in any of the matches that I watch.

Originally Posted by Spark

I agree with the earlier comments that Taylor is a much more insightful and intelligent cricket commentator than he comes across. A lot of these commentators, even Healy, get better when they're doing the analysis/insight before/after play started. It's just the ball-to-ball that they struggle with.

I think Mark Taylor is a lot better than some of the other people going around.

And I do agree that the Sky commentator team is absolutely wonderful....

Just love the way that David Gower speaks........only one that I don;t like too much on their team is Micheal Holding but even he is better than a lot of other commentators on other channels........Willis, Athers, Nasser, Gower.......top notch team

I used to love Geoffrey Boycott as a commentator. I don't know about others but he could really lay into the players too.

I agree. Well said. And the distance between Arun Lal and Sanjay Manjrekar is not that great.

Thankfully somebody mentioned Mike Haysmann. He has got to be the worst commentator going around. And you have got to hear him when he tries to sound excited when a boundary or a 6 goes around. Hardly seems to be any difference between his normal and excited state except the voice only gets louder. I am always hoping that he doesn't appear in any of the matches that I watch.

I think Mark Taylor is a lot better than some of the other people going around.

And I do agree that the Sky commentator team is absolutely wonderful....

Just love the way that David Gower speaks........only one that I don;t like too much on their team is Micheal Holding but even he is better than a lot of other commentators on other channels........Willis, Athers, Nasser, Gower.......top notch team

Well yeah Tendy is probably better than Bradman, but Bradman was 70 years ago, if he grew up in the modern era he'd still easily be the best. Though he wasn't, can understand the argument for Tendy even though I don't agree.

I agree with the earlier comments that Taylor is a much more insightful and intelligent cricket commentator than he comes across. A lot of these commentators, even Healy, get better when they're doing the analysis/insight before/after play started. It's just the ball-to-ball that they struggle with.